Sitting in the player’s lounge at the Las Vegas Open Challenger, I look to the other side of the room and see a coach gripping his players racquets before the match. I turn to my doubles partner and quietly say, “must be nice.”

It’s no secret that it’s impossible to turn a yearly profit playing in the minor leagues of tennis, due to the peanut-sized prize money and high expenses. Just to give you an idea, if a player wins the singles AND doubles event at the futures level, he’s unable to cover his expenses. At the challenger level, expenses can be covered, but only if a player wins the singles tournament or reaches the final.

With that being said, in the attempt to cut our losses, we rarely travel with a coach. This is because unlike in team sports, a player is required to cover his coach’s salary and expenses on the road. So by choosing to travel alone, a player saves a boatload of money.

Jean Yves Aubone (Photo: Steen Kirby)

While it’s great to save all that money, traveling alone means getting rid of the most important contributor to a player’s success. Coaches provide players with the information they need. They correct a player’s bad habits, techniques, and strategies that have prevented them from reaching the top. So when a player travels with a coach, he continues to receive the necessary information to improve daily.

For a player traveling alone, the probability of daily improvements decreases. A player might be smart enough to recognize some of his mistakes but he can’t recognize all of them. It is the job of the coach to first inform the player that he’s making a mistake. Then the player can begin to correct it.

When a player traveling without a coach does recognize a mistake, he then has to figure out how to correct it on his own. For example, if I finally figured out that I’m hitting low short forehands incorrectly – would I then ask a fellow competitor to feed me short balls for an hour so I can correct the issue? Probably not. He could be a potential opponent. I don’t want to expose a weakness to him.

Well what if I don’t care about exposing my weakness, and I just want to get better. Will a potential opponent be willing to spend an hour of their day, helping me for free, when they could be spending it improving their own game? Not likely. And I can’t blame them. I wouldn’t want to either. If I’ve practiced for two hours and have a match the following day, I’m not going to spend an extra hour preparing someone else for their match when I could be preparing for myself.

Because of these circumstances, the player traveling with his coach has a higher probability of success over the player who travels alone. And I’m referring to a player’s overall career, not just an individual tournament.

Think about how much time is lost for the player traveling to the average 27 tournaments a year alone. That’s more than half the year that he didn’t receive any coaching.

Compare that to the player always traveling with a coach.

A player traveling with a coach to those 27 tournaments, will receive coaching for an extra 189 days a year. Over 5 years that equates to 945 days of extra coaching received. Over 10 years that’s 1,890 days!

It’s easy to see how big of an advantage a player who has the ability to travel with a coach has over one who’s forced to make it on his own. The players I’ve seen make the quickest jumps from the minor leagues to the ATP level have had a coach with them all the way.

The question becomes, what does a player do if they don’t have the finances to travel with a coach? Does he stop playing, knowing that the odds of him making it as a top 100 singles player in the world are stacked against him? Lets not forget that tennis is already one of the most difficult sports in the world to make it in. Or does he try anyway, believing that he can be the exception and live his dream of playing in a grand slam?

This time three years ago, I took one of the biggest risks of my life. I left my job in one of the best investment banks in the world, to pursue a dream I had as child: to be a professional tennis player.

I did it for two reasons.

First, I was unhappy. I had been working in finance for two years and even though I was financially independent and living in one of the hottest spots in Miami, I would spend my Sunday night’s sitting on the balcony of my downtown condo, dreading going to work in the morning. I’d stare off into the distance trying to come up with an idea that would make it possible to quit and move on to something better.

Second, I started to wonder what could have been. I was seeing guys I had competed with and even beat playing in the qualifying and main draw of grand slams. Could that have been me?

In the few professional tennis events I played while attending Florida State University, my singles ranking got up to 475 in the world. What if I played a full year, or two? Could I have achieved my childhood dream?

Finally, I got tired of hating Mondays. I realized I was going to have to work for the rest of my life whether I liked it or not. Finance jobs will always be there, but the opportunity to give professional tennis a shot is limited.

I told my bosses of my decision to leave their group to pursue my dream of being a professional tennis player. Since I had only been there one year and committed to two or three, they weren’t thrilled, but respected my decision. One of my bosses reminded me that I was probably making one of the dumbest decisions of my life. Financially, he couldn’t have been more right. I went from having a nice looking bank account to being in debt. I’m now fully supported by my parents and 100% of the money I see goes right into basic living expenses and tennis.

As far as my happiness and well-being goes, I can say with absolutely certainty I made the right decision. There hasn’t been a single day I wished I stayed in that office, sitting in front of three computer screens for at least 11 hours a day. I’m broke and couldn’t be happier. I have everything I truly want in this world.

My message to the world:

Do what makes you happy and you’ll be rich for life.

I’ll always remember my last day at work. Many people said how happy they were for me that I had the courage to risk everything. They wished they could’ve left their job to pursue a dream of theirs but it was too late. They all had families and couldn’t afford to give up their well-paying job.

I chased the money. I chased the fancy resume building job title. I chased the designer clothes and the cool vacations.

What I Did This Summer: Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) Reflects on 2015 Pan American GamesJean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

USA! USA! USA!

The chants were getting louder and louder, echoing through the halls entering the stadium.

USA! USA!

Every second, more Americans were joining in the chant.

USA! USA!

American pride was oozing through the hallways. The echoes were so loud all the other teams could now hear it. The American’s are here and they want everyone to know it.

At this moment, I felt prouder to be an American than I ever had in my life.

Two days earlier – July 8

As I got off the plane and was walking towards the immigration lines in Toronto, I noticed there was a sign for anyone involved in the Pan-American Games. I understood that these games were the third largest multi-sport Games in the world, but to have our own immigration lines? That’s just too cool. Just the day before, I had received my accreditation. I didn’t know why I needed it before I left but now I knew. I showed it to the security guard at the beginning of the line and was allowed to proceed. The line was completely empty. I must have passed 100 disgruntled international travelers as they watched me go to the front of the lines.

Once my immigration forms were stamped, I grabbed my bags with a huge grin on my face, understanding how much time I saved just because I was competing in the games. I walked towards baggage claim and a gentleman who I came to know as Justin, was waiting with a sign that said “Team USA.” I’ve never had anyone wait at the airport with a sign for me, especially with one that read “Team USA.” With my confidence high after skipping through the immigration lines, I walked towards the sign thinking “I might as well see where this Pan-Am wave takes me.”

I was the guy he was waiting for. He brought me over to a desk where my accreditation was confirmed. After we picked up my bags he put me in a shuttle that was waiting for me outside. The shuttle took me to the Hilton where only Team USA members were to check in.

Upon arrival at the Hilton I was greeted by two Team USA tennis supervisors who were in charge of taking care of the team. Once the rest of the tennis players and coaches arrived we went to the check in rooms. It turned out that “checking in” meant “get all your Team USA Nike gear and Oakley sunglasses.”

Once the check in was complete we took our Team USA duffle bags full of gear and the men’s and women’s tennis teams loaded up two vans. We were going to stay at a hotel near the tennis center instead of the athlete’s village. The hotel was 10 minutes away WITH traffic. The village was downtown, at least 45 minutes away.

As cool as it would have been to stay in the village and meet so many great athletes, I wasn’t complaining. Staying in the hotel meant my fiancé was able to come and stay in the room with me. Staying at the village would have prevented this from happening. Being able to share such an incredible experience with my fiancé was priceless to me. When I played in the qualifying of the 2008 Men’s US Open I had no family there. This time I had my fiancé who was able to see and feel everything I was feeling. I could talk to her about a certain moment and she could say “I know, it was amazing,” rather than “Wow, that must have been cool.”

Business as usual – July 9

The tennis events were held at the Aviva Center at York University. The Center was built in 2004 to host Rogers Cup, one of the biggest men’s and women’s professional events, every year. Other than practicing at such a prestigious center, it was business as usual. We went through the same practice routines as we would at any other event the day before a match.

Game day – July 10

JY On Court

I was scheduled to play the first match on stadium court at 10am. With the capacity to hold 12,500 people, it was by far the largest stadium I had ever played in. Fortunately I practiced on stadium court the day I arrived, so I knew what to expect.

As the match against Mexico’s Hans Hach was set to begin, I waited in the tunnel entrance until security informed me it was time to enter the court. While doing some simple dynamic movements to keep the nerves at bay, it dawned on me that in this tunnel, some of the greatest players in tennis–Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic–all waited in the very spot I was standing in to go out for their match. And now here I was, waiting for my name to be called so I could walk out to center court and represent the United States of America in one of the biggest events in the world.

After losing a close first set filled with nervous mistakes, I got up an early break in the second set and went to the back fence. As the ball kids were throwing the balls down to my opponents side of the court, I touched the fence and walked alongside it. I told myself to take everything in for a second. I glimpsed around the stadium and noticed there couldn’t have been more than 100 fans. I felt the hot cement court under my shoes. I then looked at my team and fiancé just to the right. I thought to myself “win or lose, I will have still represented, what in my mind is the greatest country on earth, in one of the biggest events in the world. No one will ever be able to take that away from me.” A big smile came to my face.

About 45 minutes later my opponent sent a backhand cross-court wide and it was game, set, and match for me, for Team USA.

That night was the opening ceremony. I’m not sure why it’s called the opening ceremony when events have already started, but whatever. I was happy to be there and even happier knowing that I was still in the running for some medals. I couldn’t imagine what it must feel like to walk in front of 45,000 people knowing I was already eliminated.

Every country was brought into a giant lobby in a building next to the Rogers Centre, home of the Toronto Blue Jays. While everyone anxiously awaited for their country to be called into the ceremony, athletes and coaches roamed around, asking others to trade for pins. Pins were the personal prize of the Games. With every new pin acquired from a different country, each athlete turned into a 5-year-old, showing the prize off to their teammates.

Finally the call came, “United States of America, you’re up.”

Immediately every American stopped what they were doing and began walking towards the two large open doors in the corner that lead into the Centre. Once into the hallway of the Centre, Team USA’s national pride couldn’t be contained any longer. USA! USA! USA! The only times I sang that chant were as an observing fan while watching USA compete in an event like the World Cup. This time, I wasn’t a fan. I was singing along with the rest of the athletes that were selected to represent USA.

As we walked in front of the sold out crowd, I made sure to put the phone down and stop recording. I wanted to take this moment in just like I did on the tennis court that day. It was surreal. Unfortunately it went by so fast it felt like a dream. I replayed the videos on my phone hundreds of times just to make sure it was a reality.

Jean-Yves at Opening Ceremonies

It’s over – July 11/12

I ended up losing a tough three set match in the next round to Venezuela’s top singles player. My partner (Dennis Novikov) and I ended up losing in three sets in the quarterfinals, one round short of the medal rounds.

I felt such a deep sadness following the doubles loss. My chances at winning a medal at the Pan-American Games were gone. The walk back to the locker room took years. I did everything I could to be mentally and physically ready for the games. I tailored my schedule and training so that I would be peaking at the Games. Finding out that our doubles opponents went on to win the gold made me feel even worse. I knew it could have been Dennis and I at the top of the podium.

Medal Ceremony

I want to thank my fiancé for making the trip to Toronto. I want to thank both the men’s and women’s teams for making this such a fun trip. All of you were fantastic teammates and even better people to be around. It was a pleasure meeting everyone and I wish you nothing but the best. I want to thank Brad Stine. Simply put, you’re a great coach. I can’t forget Jeff and Derrick for going above and beyond to provide the teams with everything we needed. You guys did way too much. Finally, I want to thank everyone at the USTA who made this possible. You gave me a chance at representing my country in one of the biggest events in the world. For that, I will be forever grateful.

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone (@JYNole) August 2015 Update #9 A Message to Junior Tennis PlayersJean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

A Message To Junior Tennis Players

Dear junior tennis players,

You’re not alone.

Recently I asked my followers on Instagram to e-mail me with any questions they had regarding the life of a professional tennis player or tennis in general. To my surprise, the majority of e-mails I received were from junior tennis players looking for advice on how to deal with low confidence, getting frustrated all the time, and handling their nerves. In more simple terms, they were looking for help with the mental side of the game.

As I read each e-mail carefully, I remembered I was just like them. I remembered how a devastating loss could put me into complete sadness. I remembered how many times I would lose matches because I got nervous during big moments and made some bad decisions. Before answering I thought to myself, “what do I wish I knew then that I know now?”

I wish I understood the importance of training the mind.

For most of my life, I tried to have fun on the court. I tried to let it fly and enjoy the game. I tried endlessly to believe in myself and my abilities as a tennis player. Yet every time things started going wrong, I would get so frustrated things only got worse.

I was always told to have fun and play relaxed but how could I when I was losing? I was told to not worry about winning or losing, but how could I when the ultimate goal was to win? Telling someone to do something without giving them the proper instruction on how to do it, is completely useless.

Up until the last year and a half, no one had ever taught me how to actually play relaxed. No one taught me how to not get frustrated if I started losing. No one ever taught me how to breathe properly so that I could calm myself down. No one ever taught me how to quiet the damn voices in my head that repeatedly said things such as:

“I suck at tennis.
I hate this game.
I knew I was going to lose.
This always happens to me.
I’m just not good enough.”

These mental wars I had with myself were the primary reasons I quit tennis after playing at the collegiate level. The wars began to tear me apart. I suffered on the court and off of it as well. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and quit. Nothing in life, especially a damn game, is worth suffering so much over.

Two years after college the stress from tennis faded away and I decided to leave the office life and give tennis another try. Unfortunately the mental wars began again. I still hadn’t learned how to control my thoughts and nerves. Out of complete desperation, I finally decided to work with a mental coach (I prefer mental coach over psychologist). Slowly I started to learn the proper way to think, the proper words to use in my head, and the proper way to breathe so I could slow my heart rate down when I became nervous.

Since then, tennis has become less stressful and the emotions of it almost never spill into my personal life. More importantly, at the age of 27 I’m finally able to enjoy the game to the fullest.

We (tennis players) are willing to put an extraordinary amount of hours practicing how to hit a tennis ball, yet almost never work on the most important part of the game: the mind. When a professional tennis player or coach is asked how much of the game is mental, the typical answer is roughly 80%. If the game is about 80% mental, then why are we spending nearly 100% of our practice time on the court and in the gym? The numbers don’t make sense.

My best advice to junior tennis players: start working on the mental side of things as soon as possible. Read books; I personally recommend to begin with The Inner Game of Tennis and Winning Ugly. If your coach is not training your mind- ask him to. If he does not have the proper skills to do so, then find a mental coach. Don’t waste years of your tennis life being continuously stressed on court. Enjoy the beautiful game while having an easier pathway to being the best player you can be.

My departure started 11 hours ago and I have many more hours to go until I get home. I’m on my way back from the $10,000 Future’s event in Manzanillo, Mexico where I lost in the first round of singles and then in the doubles final.

I’m at my third airport of the day, drinking a classic American “man’s” beverage, with four hours to go until I lug my gear through my fourth and final stop. Overall, it was not a bad trip. Not just because my job is playing in professional tennis tournaments, but also because it served a greater purpose. It reminded me of how great we have it in the States.

In Mexico, I met up with a few American’s who’d arrived a week earlier to play the first tournament. We were originally supposed to stay at the all-inclusive beachfront resort that was hosting the tournament, but that plan fell apart right away.

The Americans got stuck in a room at the Gran Festivall with no air conditioning, no Wi-Fi – except in the lobby, which barely worked. And then there were the bedbugs. One girl who’d arrived early too, was forced to retire in the middle of her match because her bed bug bites were so inflamed she couldn’t play in the blistering sun.

So, without hesitation my American friends bailed from the resort to a hotel down the road.

During my twenty minute taxi ride through the mountains and small farms of Manzanillo, I thought “if the all-inclusive resort was that bad, what about a local $35 a night hotel?”

Upon my arrival to a narrow building in a busy but worn down part of town, where any cartel gang might easily wreak havoc, I was more than a little concerned. The hotel room doors all were outside, which meant anyone could walk up to my place. It’s not the feeling I wanted on my first day in a foreign country, in a city that I had never heard of before.

Walking up to the third floor (yes, no elevators and carrying the full weight of the 100-degree heat index on my way up the stairs) I stepped into my room, drenched with sweat, but pleasantly surprised. It was clean. The a/c worked. So did the TV, although the only available English channels played nothing but horror movies.

Reality hit, though, when I discovered the only working Wi-Fi spots were in the hallway or down in the parking lot. Many times I opened the window just so I could stick my phone out in the hallway to send and receive text messages. And whenever my fiancé called the room, a beeping noise, like a fax tone, droned through the line.

The view from the hotel

The front desk attendant later explained that a single phone line served the entire hotel. So, if someone else was trying to get a call through, they would interrupt any call in progress. The beeping would continue until whomever else trying to make a call stopped. They never stopped.

By far though, my favorite moment of the trip was on the second day, having to wake up at 6:00 am to be able to practice with my roommate, Collin John, at 7:00 am. The resort was overloaded, hosting both men’s and women’s events on only ten courts. So, players were forced to practice four to a court during the “typical” practice hours. Since we wanted a full court to ourselves, our only option was to wake up for an early morning grind session.

Unfortunately, since we weren’t staying at the tournament hotel, the resort provided no transportation.

So there we were on a Saturday morning, standing on the side of the road at 6:30 in the dark, in Mexico, waiting for the bus, looking completely out of place with our tennis bags and clothing. Then, when we hopped on the 7-peso ride, I couldn’t help but think how ironic it was that two professional tennis players were taking a rickety bus in the 6:30 dusk just to get in a decent practice.

To top it off, the bus dropped us off on a side road next to the resort. To avoid a 15-minute trek up a hill and then back down, we had to throw our bags over the wall and “sneak” in to the resort.

After a few days I got used to the whole bus and “cloak and dagger” routine. The food though, took some doing. I did my best to eat as many meals as possible at the hotel restaurant. Almost every other food joint in the city was street-side with no a/c, so by eating in the hotel I limited how much walking and sweating I was doing.

There was this one no-named family owned taco place though, across the street. After mustering up the courage to try it a few days into the trip, I first considered it the best street-corner taco stand on the planet. Towards the end of the trip, however, I quickly stripped it of that honor when players started getting sick from eating there. My doubles partner, Andre Dome, was forced to withdraw from his singles semifinal and our doubles final due to food poisoning. Lesson learned: never eat at a no-named taco stand on a street corner in Mexico.

The taco stand

So, as tiring and hard as traveling is, when I landed in Orlando for my third connection of the day, the familiar aura of Disney World and the luxury of drinking from the water fountain welcomed me. I wasn’t in Atlanta yet, but in my mind, I was already home.

My next tournaments will be two 15k Future’s events in Tulsa, OK and Wichita, KS. I couldn’t be more excited to play in my home country of the USA. I won’t take a moment for granted.

Life on Tour With Jean-Yves Aubone May 2015 Update #7 The Costs of Living the DreamJean-Yves Aubone, Tennis Atlantic

From ATP/WTA Sydney 2014, qualifiers had to pay for water and tennis balls

In this blog I will present a breakdown of my income and expenses in various categories for the year of 2013 and 2014. They are the only years so far where I played professionally from the beginning of the year up until the end. I did not write this blog based on my opinion on how well tennis players do or do not get paid. I wrote this so that you may form your own opinion based on numerical facts rather than assumptions.

2013

2014

Total Prize Money

$9,637

$12,101

Singles Prize Money

$5,695

$9,260

Singles Tournaments Played

26

24

Average Income Per Singles Event

$219

$386

Doubles Prize Money

$3,942

$2,841

Doubles Tournaments Played

16

15

Average Income Per Doubles Event

$246

$189

Year End Singles Ranking

679

484

Year End Doubles Ranking

307

419

Expenses

2013

2014

Food/Meals/Groceries

$10,390

$12,898

Tournament Fees

$400

$440

Racquet/Tennis Gear

$2,158

$2,463

Coaching/Training

$6,995

$5,900

Gas

$2,337

$2,523

Transportation

$5,137

$2,986

Hotels

$4,843

$2,435

Total Expenses

$32,259

$29,950

Net Income

-$22,622

-$17,849

Some things to keep in mind when evaluating my expenses:

Tournament fees – In order to play in professional events, a membership is required. Therefore, the tournament fees include my ITF IPIN membership and ATP Playerzone membership so that I can register for events. This expense section also covers whatever entry fee I have to pay at events to play.

Racquet/tennis gear – Includes racquet stringing. For the second half of 2014 I purchased a Pro Stringer. It’s a portable stringing machine so that I can string my own racquets and not have to pay to get them strung. For 2013 and 2014 I was sponsored by Babolat, therefore I did not have to pay for my own racquets, racquet bags, or strings. I did not have a clothing sponsor at the time.

Racquet customization companies like Priority One charge thousands for their services to pros.

Coaching/training – Includes any kind of physical therapist or doctor I need to see. Also, I only travel with a coach to a tournament a few times a year. It’s too expensive. I only work with a coach a few months out of the year when I’m training in Atlanta at Ginepri Performance Tennis. When I’m there I work out a special rate with my coaches so it’s not too expensive. They deserve to get paid more but are kind enough to help me. The same goes for my fitness trainer.

Transportation – these items are air fares and car rentals to and from tournaments. The 2014 amount was lower vs 2013 one because I was able to drive to more tournaments.

Hotels – This amount was lower in 2014 vs 2013 because I was able to play tournaments where I could stay at a friend’s house.

It should be noted that these are not ALL of my expenses. They are only my tennis related expenses. I did not include my health insurance, car insurance, car payment, rent/utilities, cell phone and anything that I spend on recreational activities such as going to the movies or playing golf.

Food for Thought:

The minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 an hour. A person working on average 40 hours a week is typically considered a full time employee. A full time employee working on minimum wage earns $15,080. Last year I finished the year ranked as the 484th best professional tennis player in the world in singles. Not including doubles, I earned $9,260.

After losing 6-3 6-0 in the qualifying of the Savannah Challenger a week ago, I felt completely lost. It was one of the worst moments of my career. In practice I was playing the best tennis of my life, but when it counted, I couldn’t beat my mom who stopped playing tennis years ago (yes a part of me believed this). It had been about a month and a half since I won a set. I couldn’t understand it. Usually when a player reaches their career high ranking, they are full of confidence; for me it was the opposite. I became more nervous and anxious with each match. Just by looking at the scoreline and my recent matches, one might think I lost on purpose. I wish that was the case. At least I would have understood why I could lose so badly every tournament when I was playing so well in practice. The reality was that I tried until the very last point. I even told myself when I was down a set and 5-0 that at least I had the opportunity to make one of the most epic comebacks in my career. It didn’t happen.

After the match I went straight to one of the practice courts where no one could bother me and I sat alone. I tried to gather my thoughts but I was so angry that I couldn’t think. I sat on the bench looking around hoping that I would find something, anything, that could make me feel better. Unfortunately it started to rain. I thought about going back in the clubhouse but I couldn’t do it. The last thing I wanted was for someone to ask me how the match went. After showering in the fitness center that was a mile away from the tennis clubhouse, and where I knew I wouldn’t be bothered, I went to Starbucks for a few hours. I didn’t want to go back to the hotel because I was staying with Greg (Ouellette) who just beat me!

I called my coach Joseph O’Dwyer and explained to him that I wanted to leave town. I wanted to get away. I felt so frustrated and lost. Even though I didn’t want to quit, I did want to get away from the game. This wasn’t fun anymore. Joseph reminded me that there are ups in downs in tennis and that every player goes through it. He gave me examples such as Ernests Gulbis, who recently was one of the top 20 players in the world and somehow can’t win a match.

Joe also reminded me that someone trying to reach something great has to stay the course no matter how hard it is. Nothing great happens after a smooth ride. I agreed and said I was going to stay in Savannah and practice but I still wasn’t happy. I was so upset that I couldn’t even talk to my fiancé. I felt terrible because she was being punished for something that had nothing to do with her but I couldn’t help it. My frustration had completely taken over my thoughts.

The frustration at practice the next day was very evident. I considered it a victory that I stayed until the very end without throwing my racquet into the woods. As I walked off the practice court I ran into Stanford Boster, one of the USTA’s national coaches. After speaking for a few minutes to him about what I was going through he said something that later on in the day clicked in my head. I don’t want to give away what he said to me but it changed everything. It was so simple yet I’d never thought about it. I now knew what was wrong, and it was fixable. I spoke with Joseph about it and he completely agreed with what Stan said. I was so happy, so relieved. I couldn’t wait to play the next tournament.

The next tournament for me was in the main draw of the Tallahassee Challenger. I was fortunate enough to have a wild card into the main draw. My coach and fiancé were both at the event and in my corner for the first time all year. The timing couldn’t have been better. The combination of them being there and my new mental approach helped me tremendously. Mentally I played the best two matches all year. I was nervous but not anxious. I played free. I played like myself again and I can’t even put into words how happy that made me.

JY in action in Tallahassee

After losing in the second round to Tiafoe, I found myself upset at a few execution mistakes I made. Joseph stopped me and said, “you just got off the court upset at execution mistakes, which can be fixed, rather than being upset at how you couldn’t get a ball in the court and and complaining that your head is a mess. Today is a win, not a loss.” Immediately all my anger went away when I heard that. He was right. Mentally, I was back. I was me again.

I just want to thank my fiancé for her patience and support through all the good and bad moments in my career. I want to thank Joseph for convincing me to stay in Savannah when it was the last thing in the world I wanted to do. Finally, I want to thank Stanford Boster for the short conversation that I’ll never forget. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour.